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Christie ends term unpopular, but with legs left unbroken

FILE – Republican Chris Christie left the New Jersey governor's office with his popularity in tatters, but at least he didn't break a leg. This combination of file photos shows New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, left, leaning on crutches while answering questions about surgery that removed a plate from her right leg implanted after a skiing accident in Switzerland, during a Nov. 8, 1999, ceremony at the Old Barracks in Trenton, N.J.; New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, center, who broke his left leg while vacationing in Cape May, N.J., using crutches as he leaves a lectern following a Feb. 6, 2002, news conference at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J.; and New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, right, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident on April 12, 2007, using crutches to walk down the steps of Drumthwacket, the official governor's residence, on May 7, 2007, in Princeton, N.J. (AP Photos, File)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Republican Chris Christie left the New Jersey governor's office with his popularity in tatters, but at least he didn't break a leg.

Christie is the first elected New Jersey governor in more than two decades not to suffer a broken leg while in office.

— JON CORZINE: The Democrat broke his leg during a serious vehicle accident on the Garden State Parkway in 2007. He also suffered broken bones in his chest and back and spent more than a week in critical condition.

— JIM MCGREEVEY: The Democrat fractured his left femur during a walk on the beach in Cape May in 2002.

— CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN: The Republican fractured her right leg while skiing in Switzerland in 1999.

Former Obama administration Justice Department official Eric Columbus dug up the nugget on Twitter Tuesday after Christie was replaced by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. He noted that the Democrats broke their left legs, while the Republican Whitman broke her right leg.

The last elected New Jersey governor to leave office without breaking a leg was Democrat Jim Florio, who left in 1994.

Christie's lieutenant governor was not as lucky. Kim Guadagno broke her elbow and wrist while riding a bike in October 2014. She was serving as acting governor at the time because Christie was out of the state.